Yahoo Maternity Leave Gets a Boost — How Does It Compare to Yours?

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer sparked controversy earlier this year, when she announced that her company’s employees would no longer be able to work from home. That’s so anti-working-parent, people thought. But yesterday, Mayer made an announcement that may have people thinking her workplace is more family friendly: Maternity and paternity leave has been extended.

“Under the new policy, mothers can take 16 weeks of paid leave with benefits, and fathers can take up to eight weeks, each time they have a new child via childbirth. Both parents receive eight weeks of paid leave for new children via adoption, foster child placement or surrogacy,” reports NBC Bay Area. This is about double the maternity leave the company’s old policy allowed. This may allow Yahoo to better compete with nearby tech companies Google and Facebook for talent. Google offers 18 to 22 weeks of paid maternity leave, and Facebook offers four months of paid leave to both mothers and fathers.

So, is this normal? Well, no, it’s not. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Women’s Health USA 2011 report, the average length of maternity leave was 10.3 weeks, and only 24.9 percent of women had paid maternity leave for more than two months. In fact almost one-third (29.4 percent) didn’t take any maternity leave, and 33.1 percent of those who took it didn’t have any portion of their leave paid.

In the US, companies are required by law to hold a parent’s job for 12 weeks after the birth of a child, but that’s only if the company and employee both qualify under the Family Leave and Medical Act (FMLA). For example, if your company has fewer than 50 employees or you’ve worked for the company for less than 12 months, you wouldn’t qualify. And, none of those 12 weeks are required to be paid. How much you’re paid for depends on your employer’s policies.

“I took 12 weeks which was as much as was allowed by my employer. 6 weeks were paid. However I did just hear that our maternity policy changed and now they are paying the full 12-week period. So when I’m out this September with baby #2 it will be paid for. Yay!” — RedDDD

“I will take eight weeks off. I work for a small company and don’t qualify for FMLA. I negotiated it with my employer up from six weeks. I will have four weeks paid, made up of two weeks vacation and two weeks paid maternity leave. I am the first in my company to have a baby and two weeks paid maternity and paternity leave is now written into our company policy. I am proud to be a part of that added benefit.” — jlaOK

“I took two weeks before birth and 20 afterwards. This is two weeks beyond my company’s maximum policy. An exception was allowed since I had a huge vacation balance and the last two weeks fell during the holidays which are slow for us. The company fully paid my salary for the two weeks before and I had a combination of Short Term Disability and pay (for a total of my whole salary) for 12 weeks after birth. I was then able to use sick and vacation pay for weeks 13 through 20.” — whynotwhynot

“I am taking six weeks off and then going back part time for six weeks. Then I’ll be working from home two or three days a weeks and in the office either two or three days a week. It will all be paid, thank god.” — JNLSLSM

“I took six weeks with my first child and five weeks with my second. I needed the money, so I returned to work. Besides, both times, my employer called or emailed me while I was off, and I worked from home anyway. Four weeks was paid at 60 percent of my salary. The other two weeks were unpaid.” — LoCarb

“I took the 12 weeks allowed under FMLA. They wouldn’t hold my job any longer than that. I received four weeks of Short Term Disability pay at 60 percent of my wages.” — financial diva

“All in all I took six-and-a-half months. I did a lot off research and the other people in my company who had taken maternity leave said seven months is the max. 16 weeks were paid.” — Brendamndz

“I took 13 weeks off. The plan was 12, but my daughter came early. I’m a teacher, and I had to give a specific date that I could come back, so they could put a substitute on contract. 10 days were paid — five were sick days and five were childbirth leave. The rest was unpaid.” — dizzykates

How much maternity leave did you take or do you plan to take? Do you think more companies should extend their maternity leave, like Yahoo did?

Share this:

Like this:

From Kegels to breastfeeding to baby poop, there’s no topic off-limits (or too gross!) for Elena. She also writes about pretty and nifty things, like fashion, celebs and gear. Know the latest -- follow her on twitter @elenamauer. read more

I got no maternity leave – as my company did not hold my job when I had my baby. I even worked to the day before I gave birth. When I asked why I did not have a job to come back to, I was told my job had been eliminated and there was nothing to hold for me. They replaced my position with a management position that I did not qualify for. Since I had not work for them for a year, I have no recourse under FMLA. My husband got FMLA, but he did not use it. He took a day off here and there, but not nearly the 4 weeks he was allowed.

I grew up in Europe and I can say that the US is the worst when it comes to maternity leave. I had my baby in November 2012 and took four months off. My birth was perfect and natural and I had no complications. I was even back at the gym after 12 days. But, after 6 weeks, I was still bleeding and still getting breastfeeding down, and there was no way I was in the right state to go back to work. I couldn’t even fit into my work clothes. The first 6 weeks of my maternity leave was 55% of my pay from State Disability in California. The next 6 weeks was 55% via Paid Family Leave. The last 6 weeks was unpaid, although I got a nice big tax return for 2012 because my baby was born during that year, so that tied me over until I returned to work on April 1. Either way, 6 or 12 or even 16 weeks is nothing compared to European countries and the UK (where I grew up).

Also, when new mothers return to work, for those who are breastfeeding, companies with more than 50 employees are required to provide a private room (NOT a bathroom) for new mothers to pump. My company provides such a room on a different floor than the company, so it’s totally private and I get to pump twice a day. I think having a new baby is stressful enough, and a lot of women like me don’t want to give up our jobs. The key is finding the compromise with your employer. It was very expensive to bring in a replacement for me, and she didn’t do a good job at all, so my employer was very very happy to have me back. Compromise can include asking to change hours. Maybe coming in early and leaving earlier. Possibly working from home one or two days a week (especially if breastfeeding or to offset the cost of a nanny or daycare).

A fantastic resource is http://www.milkyourbenefits.com. It was started by the cousin of my high school friend. Many many new mothers and moms to be are unaware of their rights and protections. And too many companies are also unaware. My job was not obligated to protect my position under FMLA because I had been there less than a year when I had my baby, however as a courtesy and because they are awesome, they protect all of us regardless of how long we have been there. Knowing that I wouldn’t be punished for having a kid is definitely a stress I didn’t have to deal with. I feel terrible for those who have to put their job in front of caring for a helpless tiny human being. I hope this country realises that there is a community value in allowing new parents to take ADEQUATE time off for a newborn. I think we will have a healthier population if more companies do that.

To add to New Mom’s comment, in CA you are entitled to 3-4 months of maternity leave through Pregnancy Disability Leave regardless of whether you or your company qualify for FMLA, plus you have the option of taking 6 weeks of baby bonding leave through Paid Family Leave, in addition to the pregnancy leave.

Both are paid through the state at 55% (but it is offset by any amount your employer is paying you). Plus, the baby bonding leave is both for dads and moms, and can be split up and used any time in the first year after baby is born – so you and dad could both take 3 weeks when baby is born and then take another 3 weeks when baby is 9 months, for example.

My company has up to 12 weeks, with the option to “buy” additional short term disability coverage. First you must use all vacation time, then 60% pay with the additional buy up of disability. Without it you get paid 40%

For my first daughter I was still a student, so there was no such thing as leave, She was born July 23rd and I was back in school September the 7th. My second daughter was different, I was allowed 12 weeks unpaid leave while with medical coverage, but I wasn’t even given the option to take my ETO to cover expenses. My husband had two weeks of vacation, and even though he had been with the company for 8 years at the time FMLA wasn’t even an option for him.

We are now having first boy, and this time I’m seriously battling with the idea of just putting in my two weeks notice, and re-applying to the company when I feel my body can handle the stress again. This is a very real option for me because I ended up leaving to take a year off after my second daughter. That and paid maternity leave doesn’t exist in Florida, at least not for minimum waged employees that are extremely replaceable.

I am a teacher – my first three children I just used my personal and sick leave until they were exhausted and I was docked every day after that from pay. Not much fun – now I work at a parochial school and I do get 10 days of paid leave, but after that I use my personal/sick days and then I will be docked. I have to save up for the remaining days, but I am allowed to take 6 weeks – my medical coverage does stay. I am amazed with this article!

Wow, I’m so glad I live in Germany: During both of my pregnancies I sufferd from severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum and wasn’t able to work at all. I was fully paid during the whole pregnancies! After the delivery you get one year at 60% and another two unpaid years (optional) and your employer has to hold your job. During these three years you have also the right to work part-time (if your company has more than ten employees), anything between 15 to 30 hours per week, all by state law!